1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer connected to, e.g., information terminal apparatus such as a personal computer, an image sensing device, a TV set and a set top box for printing data transmitted from the information terminal apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a sheet pack which can be removably set onto a printer, and contains sheets of printing paper in stacked form, and to the printer including the sheet pack set onto it.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, in a printer connected to a personal computer or an image sensing device for printing data transmitted from the personal computer or the image sensing device on a sheet of printing paper, it has been customary to start printing by opening a package containing a bundle of sheets of printing paper and setting the sheets to a sheet inlet of the printer one by one, or stacking a desired number of sheets of printing paper in a sheet feeding portion of the printer. Containing unit (so-called sheet cassette) for containing sheets of printing paper in stacked form is removably set onto a printer body. When a user starts printing by setting the sheet cassette onto the printer body, the user places sheets of printing paper in the sheet cassette and then sets the sheet cassette to a cassette attachment slot formed in the printer body.
After the sheet cassette has been set to the cassette attachment slot, the sheets of printing paper contained in the sheet cassette in stacked form are separated and fed one by one to a recording section inside the printer body by a sheet supply roller, a separating pad, etc.
In any of the conventional printers described above, however, there has been a problem of inconvenience to a user because the user must open a package containing a bundle of sheets of printing paper and set the sheets to the sheet inlet of the printer one by one, or take out a required number of sheets of printing paper from the opened package and stack the sheets in the sheet feeding portion of the printer.
A problem of inconvenience to a user has also been experienced in the printer of the type removably setting a sheet cassette onto the printer body because the user must remove the sheet cassette from the printer body and then set the sheet cassette back to the cassette attachment slot after opening a package containing a bundle of sheets of printing paper, taking out a required number of sheets of printing paper from the opened package, and placing the sheets in the sheet cassette as with the above case.
When a random number of sheets of printing paper are contained in the sheet cassette, the user can know neither the number of sheets of printing paper contained in the sheet cassette at the start of printing nor the number of sheets of printing paper remaining in the sheet cassette at the present time. Therefore, the sheets of printing paper may be completely depleted during the printing. If this occurs, the user must repeat the same operation as described above again, i.e., the user must remove the sheet cassette from the printer body and then set the sheet cassette back to the cassette attachment slot after opening the package containing a bundle of sheets of printing paper, taking out a required or random number of sheets of printing paper from the opened package, and placing the sheets in the sheet cassette. In addition, the user must instruct the operation to continue the printing to the printer body or the information terminal apparatus, e.g., the personal computer. This has been very inconvenient to users.
Further, the printer body or the information terminal apparatus for transmitting data to the printer cannot identify the quality of printing paper. This raises another problem that even where sheets of printing paper not adapted for the purpose of printing or printed data are contained in the sheet pack, or stacked in the sheet feeding portion, or set to the sheet inlet, those sheets are fed as they are for printing and a desired printing result cannot be obtained.
Still another problem is that because the printer body or the information terminal apparatus for transmitting data to the printer cannot identify the sheet size of printing paper, the data may be printed on a sheet of printing paper whose size is different from the desired one, and a desired printing result cannot be obtained.
With the view of solving the above-mentioned problems in the related art, an object of the present invention is to provide a sheet pack which contains a bundle of sheets of printing paper and can be directly and easily set onto a printer with no need of opening a package containing a bundle of sheets of printing paper and taking out some of the sheets from the package. Another object of the present invention is to provide a sheet pack which can transmit, to a printer, information such as the quality, size, color and number of sheets of printing paper contained in the sheet pack. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a printer which can receive the sheet pack and can read the information transmitted from the sheet pack.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a sheet pack containing a predetermined number of sheets of printing paper, wherein a sheet supply opening for supplying the sheets to a printer body through the same is formed at one surface of the sheet pack, a first opening, through which a sheet supply rotating member on the printer body side is allowed to come into contact with the sheet when the sheet pack is set onto the printer body, is formed in another surface of the sheet pack, and a second opening, through which sheet lifting means on the printer body side is allowed to enter the sheet pack when the sheet pack is set onto the printer body, is formed in still another surface of the sheet pack.
According to another feature of the present invention, an outer casing of the sheet pack is partly capable of opening and closing.
According to still another feature of the present invention, the sheet pack includes a recording member recording the quality, size, thickness, color, number and/or production date of sheets contained in the sheet pack.
Also, to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a printer connected to an information terminal apparatus, etc. for printing data transmitted from the information terminal apparatus, etc. on a sheet of printing paper, the printer comprising attachment means to which the above-mentioned sheet pack is set, information reading means for reading the information recorded in the recording member when the print pack is set to the attachment means, and information transmitting means for transmitting the information read by the information reading means to the information terminal apparatus, etc.
Further, according to the present invention, in a printer onto which a sheet pack containing sheets of printing paper is removably set, the sheet pack including recording member recording the quality, size, thickness, color, number and/or production date of sheets contained therein, the printer comprises reading means for reading the information recorded in the recording member when the print pack is set, and information transmitting means for transmitting the information read by the reading means to an information terminal apparatus connected to the printer. The information read by the reading means is displayed on a display unit in the printer, or the transmitted information is displayed on the information terminal apparatus.